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Tales of Alvin Maker #1-3
Hatrack River
Book club edition containing Seventh Son, Red Prophet and Prentice Alvin.
Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1989
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About the author
Orson Scott Card
893 books20.7k followersOrson Scott Card is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is (as of 2023) the only person to have won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for his novel Ender's Game (1985) and its sequel Speaker for the Dead (1986). A feature film adaptation of Ender's Game, which Card co-produced, was released in 2013. Card also wrote the Locus Fantasy Award-winning series The Tales of Alvin Maker (1987–2003).
Card's fiction often features characters with exceptional gifts who make difficult choices with high stakes. Card has also written political, religious, and social commentary in his columns and other writing; his opposition to homosexuality has provoked public criticism.
Card, who is a great-great-grandson of Brigham Young, was born in Richland, Washington, and grew up in Utah and California. While he was a student at Brigham Young University (BYU), his plays were performed on stage. He served in Brazil as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and headed a community theater for two summers. Card had 27 short stories published between 1978 and 1979, and he won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer in 1978. He earned a master's degree in English from the University of Utah in 1981 and wrote novels in science fiction, fantasy, non-fiction, and historical fiction genres starting in 1979. Card continued to write prolifically, and he has published over 50 novels and 45 short stories.
Card teaches English at Southern Virginia University; he has written two books on creative writing and serves as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest. He has taught many successful writers at his "literary boot camps". He remains a practicing member of the LDS Church and Mormon fiction writers Stephenie Meyer, Brandon Sanderson, and Dave Wolverton have cited his works as a major influence.
Card's fiction often features characters with exceptional gifts who make difficult choices with high stakes. Card has also written political, religious, and social commentary in his columns and other writing; his opposition to homosexuality has provoked public criticism.
Card, who is a great-great-grandson of Brigham Young, was born in Richland, Washington, and grew up in Utah and California. While he was a student at Brigham Young University (BYU), his plays were performed on stage. He served in Brazil as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and headed a community theater for two summers. Card had 27 short stories published between 1978 and 1979, and he won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer in 1978. He earned a master's degree in English from the University of Utah in 1981 and wrote novels in science fiction, fantasy, non-fiction, and historical fiction genres starting in 1979. Card continued to write prolifically, and he has published over 50 novels and 45 short stories.
Card teaches English at Southern Virginia University; he has written two books on creative writing and serves as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest. He has taught many successful writers at his "literary boot camps". He remains a practicing member of the LDS Church and Mormon fiction writers Stephenie Meyer, Brandon Sanderson, and Dave Wolverton have cited his works as a major influence.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
May 17, 2020
I first read the Alvin Maker series when there were only three of them, in the early 90s, and as I recalled, the first three were the only ones I had considered worth rereading. I went back to this because I started working on an epic fantasy based on early Mormonism and this is, as far as I know, the only other one! Alvin Maker follows a lot of Joseph Smith's life arc--he has a leg injury, lives in a world of folk magic and eventually acquires a magical golden object. Unfortunately the series doesn't do much with the Mormon conceit other than playing around with the folk magic of Smith's early years.
30 years on, there's a lot that holds up and a lot that doesn't, and I didn't quite get through Prentice Alvin in the end. Seventh Son has some wonderful rich detail about frontier life in America and it also has page after page after page of Card's gleeful fan-fiction style rewriting of history and musing on what it means to be American. His alternate history is actually pretty great--the American colonies splintered into multiple nations and re-colonized British provinces and thus the new United States includes one slave state, the Iroquois Six Nations as a state, and a whole lot of interesting politics--but the lens never goes quite wide enough for it to feel like "epic" fantasy, even in Red Prophet, the most epic of the books.
Seventh Son mostly focuses on Alvin Maker's life as a Maker, a special Chosen One gifted with a kind of uber-folk-magic, and a struggle between Alvin and the Unmaker-possessed local preacher. Card also reverses the traditional notion of water as a life-giver and has water be the seat of the Unmaker, a funny historical nod to Joseph Smith's vision of "the Destroyer riding with power on the face of the waters."
Red Prophet has a major warning for some very bad takes on Native American characters and story, but given that it's by a right-wing boomer written in the 80s, it was actually better in this regard than I thought it would be, and it's easily the best of the three books. It follows multiple points of view across a magical version of Tecumseh and Tenska-tawa's struggle, their divided viewpoints on pacifism and war, their struggle against Governor Harrison, and finally the massacre of Tenska-tawa's peaceful forces. I hated some things about the book, especially the white savior-ism of Alvin's plotline with Tecumseh and the very bizarre chapter where Tecumseh reveals his "double life" lived as a white man, but the ending had to be one of the better fantasy takes on American colonialism, where all those who massacred Tenska-tawa's people are marked with bloody hands forever, and are forced to tell their stories, but William Henry Harrison parleys his pride in said genocide into a Presidential victory. Nice commentary on how American genocide became "Manifest Destiny."
Prentice Alvin is a little dull after Red Prophet, and I put the book down after a pretty horrific sequence in which a couple of villains discuss the moral rightness of raping slaves. I get that they weren't supposed to be heroic but jeeeeeez (and btw, what is with boomers who spend PAGES and PAGES in the heads of absolutely loathsome characters? Stephen King does it too. Are they getting payoffs from the showerhead industry?).
As someone who loves Mormon history, I can't help but see that Prentice Alvin runs into some problems with the Joseph Smith parallel. The longer Card went into this series, the more he'd have to look at what Joseph Smith and Brigham Young actually did, and how close he'd want to hew to it. Sadly, for all that they believed they would be the saviors of Native Americans, Mormon settlers were just as complicit in Native genocide, and after an initial flurry of abolitionism they firmly fence-sat the Civil War and were one of the most backward racist organizations of the 20th century until 1978. I never read the last two books in the series, but as I recall, Card had some sort of magical barrier appear on the Mississippi that allowed a pan-Indian nation to develop in the West and interact in Alvin's Crystal City.
So it doesn't really do much with Mormonism, overall.
Card is a really controversial writer these days. I don't believe anyone can really keep their politics out of their writing, but especially not a writer obsessed with moral and ethical behavior like Card, and I stopped reading his work when the Shadow series essentially seemed like a polemic for his support of the invasion of Iraq.
Even these books, which come from a period where Card was more politically moderate, are pretty annoying. Card is obsessed with the idea of the virtuous, strong main character who exists mostly to be RIGHT and to explain to others that they are RIGHT and only occasionally be corrected by teachers. It's no wonder that he even wrote a book trying to redeem Christopher Columbus via Columbus's good intentions.
TL;DR: Seventh Son & Red Prophet are worth rereading, but haven't aged all that well.
30 years on, there's a lot that holds up and a lot that doesn't, and I didn't quite get through Prentice Alvin in the end. Seventh Son has some wonderful rich detail about frontier life in America and it also has page after page after page of Card's gleeful fan-fiction style rewriting of history and musing on what it means to be American. His alternate history is actually pretty great--the American colonies splintered into multiple nations and re-colonized British provinces and thus the new United States includes one slave state, the Iroquois Six Nations as a state, and a whole lot of interesting politics--but the lens never goes quite wide enough for it to feel like "epic" fantasy, even in Red Prophet, the most epic of the books.
Seventh Son mostly focuses on Alvin Maker's life as a Maker, a special Chosen One gifted with a kind of uber-folk-magic, and a struggle between Alvin and the Unmaker-possessed local preacher. Card also reverses the traditional notion of water as a life-giver and has water be the seat of the Unmaker, a funny historical nod to Joseph Smith's vision of "the Destroyer riding with power on the face of the waters."
Red Prophet has a major warning for some very bad takes on Native American characters and story, but given that it's by a right-wing boomer written in the 80s, it was actually better in this regard than I thought it would be, and it's easily the best of the three books. It follows multiple points of view across a magical version of Tecumseh and Tenska-tawa's struggle, their divided viewpoints on pacifism and war, their struggle against Governor Harrison, and finally the massacre of Tenska-tawa's peaceful forces. I hated some things about the book, especially the white savior-ism of Alvin's plotline with Tecumseh and the very bizarre chapter where Tecumseh reveals his "double life" lived as a white man, but the ending had to be one of the better fantasy takes on American colonialism, where all those who massacred Tenska-tawa's people are marked with bloody hands forever, and are forced to tell their stories, but William Henry Harrison parleys his pride in said genocide into a Presidential victory. Nice commentary on how American genocide became "Manifest Destiny."
Prentice Alvin is a little dull after Red Prophet, and I put the book down after a pretty horrific sequence in which a couple of villains discuss the moral rightness of raping slaves. I get that they weren't supposed to be heroic but jeeeeeez (and btw, what is with boomers who spend PAGES and PAGES in the heads of absolutely loathsome characters? Stephen King does it too. Are they getting payoffs from the showerhead industry?).
As someone who loves Mormon history, I can't help but see that Prentice Alvin runs into some problems with the Joseph Smith parallel. The longer Card went into this series, the more he'd have to look at what Joseph Smith and Brigham Young actually did, and how close he'd want to hew to it. Sadly, for all that they believed they would be the saviors of Native Americans, Mormon settlers were just as complicit in Native genocide, and after an initial flurry of abolitionism they firmly fence-sat the Civil War and were one of the most backward racist organizations of the 20th century until 1978. I never read the last two books in the series, but as I recall, Card had some sort of magical barrier appear on the Mississippi that allowed a pan-Indian nation to develop in the West and interact in Alvin's Crystal City.
So it doesn't really do much with Mormonism, overall.
Card is a really controversial writer these days. I don't believe anyone can really keep their politics out of their writing, but especially not a writer obsessed with moral and ethical behavior like Card, and I stopped reading his work when the Shadow series essentially seemed like a polemic for his support of the invasion of Iraq.
Even these books, which come from a period where Card was more politically moderate, are pretty annoying. Card is obsessed with the idea of the virtuous, strong main character who exists mostly to be RIGHT and to explain to others that they are RIGHT and only occasionally be corrected by teachers. It's no wonder that he even wrote a book trying to redeem Christopher Columbus via Columbus's good intentions.
TL;DR: Seventh Son & Red Prophet are worth rereading, but haven't aged all that well.
July 5, 2012
This volume is an anthology, combining the first three volumes of the Alvin Maker Series, Seventh Son, Red Prophet, and Prentice Alvin. The setting is the 1830s of an alternate history America. All of the history isn't clear, but somehow the Revolution went differently and resulted in four countries. The deep South are still British colonies, Jefferson and Franklin founded the United States in the central states, while New England is off on its own and France still controls Canada and much of Michigan. The key factor in this alternate history is the idea of knacks, supernatural powers of varying strength and applications that most people have. The powers of some are relatively minor, such as a man who can make anyone feel welcome and appreciated, while those of others are much more powerful. The story centers around Alvin Maker (no kidding), who is the seventh son a seventh son, and has the knack of a Maker, the most powerful knack there is and one that has not been seen in centuries.
The first three volumes follow Alvin from his birth to the age of 21. He slowly learns how to use his powers and how to positively affect those around him. Meanwhile, a nameless evil is pursuing him, trying to kill him, while also perverting others to cause death and destruction. There is a heavy emphasis on the goodness of Native Americans, the worst of whom is apparently better than any white that ever lived (
The first three volumes follow Alvin from his birth to the age of 21. He slowly learns how to use his powers and how to positively affect those around him. Meanwhile, a nameless evil is pursuing him, trying to kill him, while also perverting others to cause death and destruction. There is a heavy emphasis on the goodness of Native Americans, the worst of whom is apparently better than any white that ever lived (
December 14, 2008
I read these books (it's an omnibus SFBC volume of the first three novels) toward the end of my "Orson Scott Card" period (which began with Ender's Game and ended with the almost unreadable Pastwatch).
I did like Alvin and I particularly liked Card's evocation of an alternate American history where the indigenes had some chance against the White Man.
I did like Alvin and I particularly liked Card's evocation of an alternate American history where the indigenes had some chance against the White Man.
Read
May 30, 2020Don't remember ending.
February 12, 2017
Hatrack River (Tales of Alvin Maker #1-3 omnibus)
by Orson Scott Card
This book is the first three novels in the Alvin saga. I didn’t go further after reading this compilation, though I did enjoy it. The Alvin the Maker saga is one of the few fantasy stories that Orson Scott Card has written. He is better known for Enders Game and seemingly endless sequels/prequels/spin off books related to that story.
I haven’t read much by the Orson Scott Card (loved Ender’s Game but by the time I read the two sequels I was beginning to tire of the author), but this interesting take on an alternate American history with magic was enjoyable. There are no werewolves, vampires, elves, etc; the magic is more subtle and homespun. People have ‘knacks’ as they call them. Supernatural talents that range from trivial hexes to Alvin’s seemingly boundless magic as a Maker. For the most part people can do things like divine for water. There is a girl with the ability to see possible futures, and a powerful blood magic spell performed by Ta-Kumsaw. And on top of this we have to seemingly supernatural beings opposing each other - the Shining Man who comes to Alvin in his dreams and the Unmaker a dark force setting the weak on terrible paths of cruelty. Alvin himself is somewhat mystical being the seventh son of the seventh son.
The three novels follow Alvin from his birth through his apprenticeship as a blacksmith. There are three more books in the series but I was never read beyond the first three.
by Orson Scott Card
This book is the first three novels in the Alvin saga. I didn’t go further after reading this compilation, though I did enjoy it. The Alvin the Maker saga is one of the few fantasy stories that Orson Scott Card has written. He is better known for Enders Game and seemingly endless sequels/prequels/spin off books related to that story.
I haven’t read much by the Orson Scott Card (loved Ender’s Game but by the time I read the two sequels I was beginning to tire of the author), but this interesting take on an alternate American history with magic was enjoyable. There are no werewolves, vampires, elves, etc; the magic is more subtle and homespun. People have ‘knacks’ as they call them. Supernatural talents that range from trivial hexes to Alvin’s seemingly boundless magic as a Maker. For the most part people can do things like divine for water. There is a girl with the ability to see possible futures, and a powerful blood magic spell performed by Ta-Kumsaw. And on top of this we have to seemingly supernatural beings opposing each other - the Shining Man who comes to Alvin in his dreams and the Unmaker a dark force setting the weak on terrible paths of cruelty. Alvin himself is somewhat mystical being the seventh son of the seventh son.
The three novels follow Alvin from his birth through his apprenticeship as a blacksmith. There are three more books in the series but I was never read beyond the first three.
May 20, 2011
Orson Scott Card is undoubtedly one of our most gifted sci-fi/fantasy authors. In this alternate history, he creates a cast of memorable characters that inhabit an alternate Colonial US history it begins to expand west. Though I found the Native and Colonial American people's subtle magic fascinating, it was really the core of Alvin Miller's character that drew me through the story. Within the pages of these first three novels in the Alvin Maker series,you will meet young Alvin, a tempered and tested hero. I, for one, was thankful for it.
March 24, 2012
An excellent alternate history yarn - perhaps my first of the genre. Adds a little magic to the American frontier (hexes and knacks), and alters the politics significantly: the crown colonies and other divisions exist alongside the nascent United States. All in all a delightful read and an intriguing framework, with some deeper meanings - aligned atoms and aligned peoples in the Crystal City - that might even hint of voluntaryism.
September 19, 2016
These first three books are quite good. I didn't like the later ones as well. These books were published before Card became a more controversial figure in the SF community. The alternate history was fascinating, but the religion aspects weighed down the story in later volumes. At this point I'd recommend Thirteenth Child over the Alvin tales.
March 3, 2009
This was a "candy" series (as my mom would call it). I read it as a teenager and read it fast. It draws you to an imaginative place and engages your mind and emotions...very entertaining. I don't think I learned anything from it, but it was fun!
March 23, 2018
Didn't like this, didn't finish it. Why? I don't remember as it was over 20 years ago. I think I found the subject matter boring, esp after Ender.
I will not spend any money to support Card and his aggressively ant-Gay stance any longer.
I will not spend any money to support Card and his aggressively ant-Gay stance any longer.
October 20, 2014
in het nederlands heet dit trio De levens van Alvin Maker en bevat Zevende zoon, Rode profeet en Alvin in de leer.
Fantasy en spelend in het verleden. Ik vind het nog steeds bijzonder om te lezen. Mooi boek.
Fantasy en spelend in het verleden. Ik vind het nog steeds bijzonder om te lezen. Mooi boek.
April 29, 2008
I love this collection of stories. This is some of Card's best work. I really like the magic and real life comparisons in this set of books.
Read
August 8, 2008The Tales of Alvin Maker #1-3 Omnibus
January 3, 2009
This book (well, actually the first 3 books are in this edition) is so awesome! Its like a mix between Harry Potter and Ender's Game. I can't wait to get books 4 & 5!
December 17, 2009
Great to re-read this - one of my favorites from OSC.
January 12, 2011
Very enjoyable.
May 18, 2011
I don't think I will finish it. Not my favorite book by him.
Read
July 25, 2011This is a great series. Kind of historical and futuristic at the same time. It has seers and magicians and fantasy. He is a very interesting writer.
December 9, 2011
The first two tales I felt were overly theatrical and required way to many words. The last tale seemed genuine and well built.
October 30, 2012
Took me some time to get into this book, but once I did I read it all the way through in a very short time. The alternate history is a bit fun, and I really liked the three stories.
Read
September 7, 2012Loved this series even more the second time around. Intriguing, fanciful,powerful.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews